Maggie Gallagher says the anti-Prop 8. side wants the appeal thrown out on the issue of standing because "they understand how extreme and weak Walker's ruling actually is, how unable it is to withstand substantive review by higher courts."

Eugene Delgaudio and Public Advocate are now targeting Augusta State University, which they say is "brainwashing" it students "just as the North Koreans do to their people."

For all the flag-waving Tea Party placards accusing the Obama administration of unconstitutional acts and treason, it seems that threats of revolution against the constitutional republic of the United States are coming mostly from the right wing – and not just from fringe militia groups.

We recently noted that Religious Right activist Chuck Colson has launched an effort to bully the Supreme Court into opposing marriage equality by threatening that a pro-equality ruling would result in “cultural Armageddon.” And we have noted the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer’s repeated warnings that the federal government’s “tyranny” will lead to “civil unrest.” Speakers at last year’s How To Take Back America conference suggested “Second Amendment” responses to health care reform and urged participants to buy more guns and ammunition.

Now we see that the National Organization for Marriage, whose director Brian Brown has been claiming on his anti-equality road trip that it is an organization grounded in love, is picking up on the theme as NOM’s Maggie Gallagher writes in an op ed that "American politics are in a quasi-revolutionary phase":

The people, symbolized first in the eruptions of Tea Parties, are rebelling against elites who believe they can ignore our voices and our values….

Rush Limbaugh had his finger on the truth. In the nearly half-hour speech he gave after the Proposition 8 ruling ("the American people are boiling over!"), Rush said that Walker "did not just slap down the will of 7 million voters. Those 7 million voters were put on trial -- a kangaroo court where everything was stacked against them. ... Those of you who voted for Prop 8 in California are guilty of hate crimes. You were thinking discrimination. That's what this judge has said! Truly unprecedented."

Yes, it is. We are entering into a new phase in the battle not only for marriage, but for self-government, for the legitimacy of the views and values of the Ameircan people.

This is a fight we cannot dodge, and must and will win.

Buckle down, it's going to be a ride!

Of course, this isn’t the first time a NOM leader has suggested possibly deploying a revolutionary response to judicial rulings recognizing marriage equality. When Mormon author Orson Scott Card joined NOM’s board last year, we and others drew attention to his own threats, which he made in writing in a Mormon newspaper:

How long before married people answer the dictators thus: Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn….

American government cannot fight against marriage and hope to endure. If the Constitution is defined in such a way as to destroy the privileged position of marriage, it is that insane Constitution, not marriage, that will die.

We have our own question: why is it that the standard right-wing response to votes in Congress or court decisions that they don't like is to threaten revolution against the U.S.?

I'm quite confident that, as serious as the threat from gay marriage is, it is not going to triumph in the end because political regimes that base themselves on lies about human nature cannot last in the end.

Ladies and gentleman, what are we facing? The homosexuals want to destroy the church and they want to destroy marriage. That's what it amounts to. It doesn't matter how sacred an institution is and how important it is to society as long as there can be confirmation that this lifestyle is acceptable. That's what they want.

Finally, if you watch the latest Generals International webcast, you'll see that Cindy Jacobs is also a proponent of the prosperity gospel, promising those who donate to her organization that God will reward them financially for their gift.

Finally, the quote of the day from Russell Moore, dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary: "There's really nothing conservative -- and certainly nothing evangelical -- about a laissez-faire view of a lack of government regulation, because we, as Christians, believe in sin. That means if people are sinful, if all of us are sinful, then all of us have to have accountability -- and that includes corporations. Simply trusting corporations to go about their business without polluting the water streams and without destroying ecosystems is really a naive and utopian view of human nature. It's not a Christian view of human nature."

An interesting look at the ties between Jay Sekulow, Deacon Keith Fournier, Rob and Paul Schenck, and the American Center for Law and Justice.

Maggie Gallagher is not happy with the way the Prop 8 trial appears to be going.

Janne Myrdal, State Director for CWA of North Dakota, is honored to be "one of those prayer warriors who provide [Sarah Palin's] prayer shield."

Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition is busy training "Tea Partiers, home schoolers and other conservatives to give them the tools they need to turn out the identify, educate and turn out conservative voters in their area."

In her latest column, the National Organization for Marriage's Maggie Gallagher openly declares that, having met Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio at a Council for National Policy event over the weekend, she is now madly in love:

I met Marco Rubio in Naples, Fla., this weekend, where he gave the keynote speech at the Council for National Policy.

Never fall in love with a political candidate, I tell myself; they will break your heart. Besides, expecting more than one Reagan in a lifetime is just plain greedy. Not to mention stupid.

And then I heard Rubio in Naples, and what can I say? I fell in love.

Now that is kind of creepy ... but not as creepy as the final paragraph in which she warns Gov. Charlie Crist that he had better not sully her fantasies about Rubio:

I don't know what dirt he has on Rubio -- or thinks he has -- but, Charlie, I'm telling you: Don't kill our dream. The political blood on the floor will be yours.

When she said she had fallen in love with Rubio, I didn't realize that she meant that literally.

By now, we are all used to out-of-state Religious Right groups descending on places like Maine, Washington, DC, and elsewhere in order to set up shop in their nonstop effort to fight marriage equality ... but I have to admit that I never expected them to start exporting their efforts abroad.

In response to a move to institute same-sex marriage in the Federal District which includes Mexico City (on March 4), more than 120 pro-family/pro-life leaders from 35 countries have signed the "World Congress of Families Leadership Petition To Save Marriage In Mexico City."

The Petition notes that "Mexico's Constitution defines marriage as between a man and a woman." Further, that all social ills begin with the decline of the family. Also "marriage substitutes ... undermine marriage and the family." The Petition observes that "children need both a mother and a father" and that those raised by two men or two women are "psychologically and socially disadvantaged."

The Petition calls on the government of Mexico City to refrain from implementing same-sex marriage and demands that the issue be decided at the national level, "with due regard to the nation's religious traditions, the wishes of the Mexican people and the needs of children and families, and consistent with Mexico's Constitution." Click here (www.worldcongress.org/special/wcf.mexpetsig.1002.pdf) to access the full Petition along with a list of signers.

The "Great Awakenings" of the past have been times of nationwide religious revival and it is sites that played important roles in previous religious and political awakenings throughout Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC that participants will be visiting:

We welcome you to a truly great tour. Jim has led several church history tours in Europe and some in the US and David Barton has led over 200 tours in Washington, DC and others on the East Coast. We believe this NEXT GREAT AWAKENING TOUR is the most significant tour we have ever led or heard of. When you consider the line-up of speakers, this is the finest tour of its kind. This is a most unique tour.

But, of course, this is not a strictly spiritual journey, but rather a political one judging by the special speakers the event has lined up [PDF], including Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Tony Perkins, Maggie Gallagher, Harry Jackson, and others:

Special lectures by

Governor Mike Huckabee (NY) “Overcoming Obstacles to an Awakening”

Newt Gingrich (DC) “Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation’s History and Future”

I am utterly fascinated by the fact that seemingly nobody on the Right is willing or capable of decrying the fact that Lisa Miller has kidnapped her daughter and disappeared rather than abide by court ordered custody arrangements with her ex-partner.

So far, the National Organization for Marriage's Maggie Gallagher has been the only one even willing to say that she "cannot endorse what Lisa Miller has done," though even she followed that up by saying "but I understand it."

Others who have weighed in, like Peter Sprigg and Gordon Klingenschmitt, fully support Miller's actions, while Miller's lawyers at the Liberty Counsel have quietly been trying to wash its hands of the case and steadfastly refusing to even comment.

It's interesting how "civil unions" are always portrayed as the happy middle ground in the battle over same-sex marriage. Even some pro-family advocates are willing to accept the legitimacy of civil unions as some sort of victory for them since they stop short of conferring the semantic title of "marriage" upon homosexual partners. And yet, this tragic story involving the innocent Isabella demonstrates that "civil unions" are not effective compromises, but rather weapons used by social activists to assist in their ongoing struggle to undo cultural norms and moral standards through legal confusion.

Consider also that Janet's attorneys are attempting to use the 1980 Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act to benefit their client. The PKPA was enacted to prevent a disgruntled parent who lost a custody hearing from taking their child into another state to try to get a different custody ruling. In other words, this law was intended to prevent a rightful biological parent from having their child taken from them. Yet, thanks to what the homosexual lobby has accomplished, this law is now being twisted into a tool to do exactly what it was intended to prevent.

When Hollywood portrays or the mainstream media reports on those practicing homosexuality, they paint a picture of normalcy that does not exist, and they engage in grotesque mischaracterizations that equate sexual behavior (that is always a choice) with genetic identity (that is never a choice). The consequence is a fundamental reshaping of society -- families reconstituted, laws rewritten, mores restructured.

Despite the propaganda campaign to portray homosexuals as passive victims and those with traditional moral values as aggressive oppressors, the "gay rights" movement is seeking this very type of cultural revolution. But don't take my word for it. Paula Ettelbrick, the former legal director for the homosexual Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, said: "Being queer is more than setting up house, sleeping with a person of the same gender, and seeking state approval for doing so....Being queer means pushing the parameters of sex, sexuality, and family, and in the process transforming the very fabric of society."

Indeed it does. And little girls like Isabella have their lives ruined in the process.

Sometime, when you see things like this, you wonder why people even bother trying to debate the issue of marriage equality.

Finally, Maggie Gallagher seems to be setting her side up to play the victim should they lose the Prop 8 trial, claiming that a bunch of their witnesses withdrew out of fear of having their testimony televised.

Concerned Women for America declares the Citizen's United decision the "first in a series of steps to reclaim the ideals our Founders believed in when they fought and died to establish a country where we can be truly free to speak and worship our God without government interference."

Bonus TVC lunacy: "The American people must quarantine Obama by electing conservatives to the Senate and House in November. His Al Capone management style must be brought under control. Our nation’s future depends on what each of us does this year to fight every aspect of the Obamunist agenda."

Finally, if you can't make it to the National March for Life, you can always Sarah Palin, Governor Mike Huckabee, James Dobson, Tony Perkins and other for the Virtual March for Life.

In a Monday e-mail to CNA, Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, made general comments about the case.

"I have sympathy for the pre-eminent claims of natural parents versus legal parents, when the natural mother is a fit parent (which nobody has denied in this case). But we have to be a nation ruled by laws, even when those laws may be unjust.

“Let this act as a warning call: Don't enter civil unions with people if you do not want to give them legal rights over your children. And do not give much faith in the ‘best interest of the child’ standard to protect your child. If the best interest of the child conflicts with fashionable legal norms, courts will not care what is in your child's best interest.

“It cannot be in Lisa's daughter's interest to be forcibly moved to Vermont away from the only mother she has ever known. This case is a tragedy all around. I cannot endorse what Lisa Miller has done, but I understand it, and pity both women and most of all this child. I wish Lisa's partner had the wisdom of Solomon, but I cannot blame her either," Gallagher told CNA.

It seems that Chuck Colson has gathered together a group of right-wing activists and clergy for something called the "Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience" in order to create a unified front in fighting the culture war:

The manifesto, to be released on Friday at the National Press Club in Washington, is an effort to rejuvenate the political alliance of conservative Catholics and evangelicals that dominated the religious debate during the administration of President George W. Bush. The signers include nine Roman Catholic archbishops and the primate of the Orthodox Church in America.

They want to signal to the Obama administration and to Congress that they are still a formidable force that will not compromise on abortion, stem-cell research or gay marriage. They hope to influence current debates over health care reform, the same-sex marriage bill in Washington, D.C., and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

They say they also want to speak to younger Christians who have become engaged in issues like climate change and global poverty, and who are more accepting of homosexuality than their elders. They say they want to remind them that abortion, homosexuality and religious freedom are still paramount issues.

For some reason, the headline of the New York Times article is "Christian Leaders Unite on Political Issues" instead of "Right Wing Activists Unite On Political Issues," which would have been far more accurate considering that a significant number of those who signed on to this declaration are standard Religious Right political activists:

Chuck Colson Founder, the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview

Jim Daly President and CEO, Focus on the Family (Colorado Springs, CO)

While the whole scope of Christian moral concern, including a special concern for the poor and vulnerable, claims our attention, we are especially troubled that in our nation today the lives of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly are severely threatened; that the institution of marriage, already buffeted by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is in jeopardy of being redefined to accommodate fashionable ideologies; that freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized by those who would use the instruments of coercion to compel persons of faith to compromise their deepest convictions.

Because the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage as a union of husband and wife, and the freedom of conscience and religion are foundational principles of justice and the common good, we are compelled by our Christian faith to speak and act in their defense. In this declaration we affirm: 1) the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every human being as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, possessing inherent rights of equal dignity and life; 2) marriage as a conjugal union of man and woman, ordained by God from the creation, and historically understood by believers and non-believers alike, to be the most basic institution in society and; 3) religious liberty, which is grounded in the character of God, the example of Christ, and the inherent freedom and dignity of human beings created in the divine image.

We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence. It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season. May God help us not to fail in that duty.

Maggie Gallagher says that those who fought for marriage equality in Maine wasted their time and money because the voters in the state were smart enough to know that it is gays who are the real bigots and haters:

The $4 million spent to pass gay marriage in Maine was wasted. Even Americans in liberal states do not believe that two guys pledged to a gay union are a marriage. Politicians can pass a bill saying a chicken is a duck and that doesn't make it true. Truth matters.

Americans have a great deal of goodwill toward gay people as friends, neighbors and fellow citizens. Most of us do not want to hurt them or hate them or interfere with anyone's legitimate rights to live as they choose. But we do not believe gay marriage is a civil right; we think it is a civil wrong. And we do not appreciate the increasingly intense efforts to punish people who disagree with gay marriage as if we were racists, bigots, discriminators or haters.

Case in point: Don Mendell, a school guidance counselor at Nokomis Regional High School in Maine, now faces ethics complaints for his decision to appear in a TV ad for the Yes on One campaign in the closing days of the contest. If substantiated, the ethics complaint could lead the government to yank his license as a social worker and, therefore, threaten his livelihood. What kind of movement spurs people to act like this? Meanwhile, a teacher of the year who campaigned for gay marriage faces no such threat to her livelihood. Is gay marriage really about love and tolerance for all?

Yesterday, Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, Brian Camenker of Mass Resistance, and Paul Madore from the Maine Grassroots Coalition hosted a press conference in Maine designed to "expose the hidden aspects of the radical homosexual agenda" at work in the state.

Opponents of same-sex marriage on Wednesday warned that “radical homosexual” groups concealing their true agendas were behind efforts to keep Maine’s gay marriage law on the books.

Those charges were denounced as “hate-filled speech” by the campaign defending gay marriage in Maine, however. And leaders from Stand for Marriage Maine, the organization behind the Nov. 3 ballot initiative to overturn Maine’s same-sex marriage law, quickly distanced themselves from the event.

“We disavow anything said today as being in any way connected to the Stand for Marriage Maine campaign,” said spokesman Scott Fish. “Whatever was said today was simply the words of the people speaking at the press conference.”

In a wide-ranging media event in the State House, three representatives from the Maine Grassroots Coalition, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality and Mass Resistance charged that “extreme groups” with agendas far outside the mainstream were supporting the No on 1 campaign. A small group of supporters also attended the event.

Speakers suggested that enactment of Maine’s gay marriage law will lead to “homosexual indoctrination” in schools as part of a bigger agenda that threatens families and society.

Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth, described the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force — one of the nation’s most active gay rights groups — as having “one of the most radical sexual agendas ever conceived.” He also sought to link the group to efforts to legalize public sex and prostitution, claiming this is part of a larger agenda.

“Very clearly there is already a very aggressive agenda in the schools,” said LaBarbera when discussing a news report of a teacher answering a student’s question about her relationship with her partner. “Homosexual so-called marriage only fuels that agenda. It institutionalizes it so that there can be no difference in how this aber-rant form of ‘marriage’ is compared to the real thing.”

NOM is Stand for Marriage Maine's largest donor and has "bankrolled more than 60 percent of the campaign to ban same-sex marriages in Maine," so why is Stand for Marriage Maine so eager to distance itself from LaBarbera and his associates even though Gallagher is appearing with him on right-wing radio programs?

While gay conservative groups have come out attacking President Obama for endorsing marriage equality today, Religious Right groups have also started to berate Obama on the issue.
Tony Perkins of Family Research Council said Obama’s position has handed Mitt Romney “the key to social conservative support”:
The President's announcement today that he supports legalizing same-sex marriage finally brings his words in sync with his actions. From opposing state marriage amendments to refusing to defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA) to giving taxpayer funded marriage... MORE >

The Ninth Circuit Court today upheld a lower court ruling which found Proposition 8, which overturned marriage equality in California, unconstitutional. Religious Right activists immediately denounced the ruling and used the decision to attack gays and lesbians, judges, Hollywood and San Francisco.
The National Organization for Marriage president Brian Brown emailed members with a warning that the case will end up with an “all-or-nothing showdown at the United States Supreme Court” and told members that donations are needed to deny “same-sex marriage radicals” a legal... MORE >

The Ninth Circuit Court today upheld a lower court ruling which found Proposition 8, which overturned marriage equality in California, unconstitutional. Religious Right activists immediately denounced the ruling and used the decision to attack gays and lesbians, judges, Hollywood and San Francisco.
The National Organization for Marriage president Brian Brown emailed members with a warning that the case will end up with an “all-or-nothing showdown at the United States Supreme Court” and told members that donations are needed to deny “same-sex marriage radicals” a legal... MORE >

Did social conservative leaders come together and jointly endorse Rick Santorum at the Texas retreat over the weekend? That is the way Family Research Council president Tony Perkins and many in the media interpreted the meeting of leading Religious Right luminaries, where on the second ballot Santorum led Gingrich 70 to 49, and on the third ballot 85 to 29. Perkins claimed there was a “strong consensus” behind Santorum, who has won the backing of Concerned Women for America CEO Penny Young Nance, former National Organization for Marriage president Maggie Gallagher, American Values... MORE >

Religious Right activists are positively giddy over the new momentum behind Rick Santorum’s candidacy for president, and Maggie Gallagher today praised the former Pennsylvania senator as “a latter-day Rudy suddenly lifted above his Notre Dame teammates in a fantastic photo finish.” Gallagher said that the left wants “to go after him with a hatred unlike anyone else has yet generated in this race,” writing that progressives “hate him with that special ire reserved for his virtues, not his vices.”
On Tuesday night in Iowa, he stood before the cheering... MORE >

Brent Bozell says the protesters at UC Davis “wanted desperately to be pepper-sprayed.”
Michael Medved crosses conservative activists by pushing for Mitt Romney.
Even during the economic downturn many Religious Right groups increased their spending.
Maggie Gallagher explains how to explain your disapproval of marriage equality over Thanksgiving dinner.
Which of course distracts from the real reason of Thanksgiving…to celebrate capitalism.
MORE >

Joseph L. Conn @ Wall of Separation: The Religious Right’s Partisan Scheme To Politicize Churches. Steve Benen: The end of The Great Muffin Myth. Good As You: Maggie Gallagher on 'taking over the world for Christ.' James Crugnale @ Mediaite: Rick Santorum Lashes Out At Perry, Cain, Romney On Laura Ingraham Show. Alvin McEwen: Teacher in the middle of 'suspended for being anti-gay' scandal exonerated, may seek further legal action. Ashley Lopez @ Florida Independent: Abby Johnson: Planned Parenthood ‘working with the devil.’ MORE >